Read Online Devil's Deception by Doreen Owens Malek - Free Book Online

and pausing to look at her, clad only in her bikini briefs. His breath hissed between his teeth and he bent forward, pressing his cheek to the satiny surface of her belly. He closed his eyes and she watched the long dark lashes sweep downward to touch his cheek.
    “Angela,” he said huskily. “So sweet, so fine. You live up to your name, my lovely angel.” He sat up, his hands going to his belt, but she held out her arms and he was lost. He leaned over and crushed her to him, smoothing her hair, running a hard palm down the silken plane of her back. Angela clung to him. He was a foundation of rock in a world that was tumbling recklessly out of control.
    “Are you sure?” he asked softly.
    “Yes, I’m sure,” she replied. “I trust you.”
    Devlin’s arms relaxed, and he averted his head. When Angela tried to search his face he wouldn’t look at her.
    “You trust me?” he repeated dully.
    “Of course,” she answered, bewildered. “Shouldn’t I?”
    He reared up off the bed so violently that Angela was thrown aside. She stared as he kicked the bottom of the dresser, splintering the wood.
    “Oh, God, Angela, get out of here,” he said painfully. “Get away from me.”
    “But why?” she demanded. “What is wrong?”
    “Just go,” he answered, his voice hoarse with emotion. “Will you please just go?”
    Angela shivered, trying to gather her clothes with hands that wouldn’t move. When he saw her difficulty he picked up her things and handed them to her.
    “Why are you doing this to me?” Angela whispered, forcing back the tears that gathered in her throat. “Are you trying to humiliate me?”
    “No,” he ground out, still unable to meet her eyes.
    “Then what?” she cried, her voice louder. “You lead me on like this, twice, and then . . . nothing. Don’t you know what this means to me? Do you think I do this all the time?”
    He looked at her then. “I never thought that, Angela.”
    But she wasn’t listening. “No one, no one, has ever touched me, kissed me, that way. Not even Philip. He wants to . . . but. . .”
    Devlin’s jaw tightened. “I’ll kill him if he touches you.”
    “I’ll kill you if you touch me again!” Angela flared, almost hysterical. “You stay away from me, do you hear?”
    “I hear,” he replied stonily.
    She dressed awkwardly, jamming her brassiere into the pocket of her jeans. As she passed him he reached out to her, but she yanked her arm away.
    She swept from the room without looking back.
    At least she hadn’t told him that she loved him.
    It was true, but she didn’t want him to have that satisfaction.

 
    Chapter 3
     
    The next day was a nightmare for Devlin. Angela treated him with an icy politeness that made the distance between them seem like a chasm. She gave no indication of what had transpired the previous evening but her withdrawn attitude never let him forget it, wounding him more deeply than the cruelest rebuke would have. By nightfall he was like a jungle animal with a thorn embedded in its paw, pacing wildly, inarticulate with pain. He tried to distract himself from it in the usual manner, by concentrating on his job.
    Devlin waited until Angela headed upstairs after dinner to study, and then intercepted her.
    “I’d like to know the price of that ornament I broke. You never told me what it cost.”
    He had anticipated an argument, but Angela merely removed her arm from his grasp and said quietly, “Very well. I’ll be right back.”
    As soon as she walked away Devlin went to his room and activated the receiver on the bug he’d planted in Patria’s study during his last nocturnal visit. He’d left the tiny metal disc, which amplified sound many times, attached to the inside of the door. Fresh out of ideas about locating the safe and running short of time, he’d finally resorted to electronic surveillance. If it didn’t work, he would have to find a way to get some camera equipment in there, and that was a lot trickier.